Hats Off To The New Year

Your Guide To Fun And Fanciful Ways To Usher In 1990

Here it comes again - the middle of December and time to make plans for New Year's Eve.

This year we've got a brand new decade to uncork, so don't end up sitting in front of the TV watching pop-music stars usher in 1990 by lip-synching their hits.

Go laugh at a comedy club. Go dancing. Go elegant. Go out with your family. At least go get a video!

THE ELEGANT

This type of New Year's Eve party is fit for those who want the romance and pampering of good food, a taste of the bubbly, some cheek-to-cheek dancing and a hotel room to spend the night after the party slips away.

Many area hotels are offering just this type of package. One that's been doing it for years is the Sheraton-Coliseum in Hampton.

The Sheraton will turn a banquet hall into a ballroom. Balloons, glitter, streamers and hats will be strung from the walls and tables. The dinner will be a classy feast, with tables of prime rib carved to order, chicken cordon bleu and crabcakes.

After the feast come the festivities. Disc jockeys will haul in fancy, swirling lights and a fog machine to add a misty mood for dancing.

At midnight, the hotel will drop a giant balloon from the ceiling, reminiscent of the big ball in New York's Times Square. There'll be champagne toasts all around, to be followed by a complimentary buffet breakfast.

The New Year's bash costs $125 a couple. For those who wish to spend the night, the hotel has almost halved its double-occupancy room rate to $19.90. Advance reservations are recommended.

Similar packages are being offered by many other hotels, ranging from about $65 a couple to about $150, depending on whether a room and meals are part of the package.

There's an easy way to pick the hotel party of preference. The Peninsula Tourism & Conference Bureau has a list of all New Year's packages at area hotels. It can even make reservations for you. Just call 873-0092.

On a night when alcohol flows freely, it's not a bad idea to book a hotel room too.

While many hotels play up ballroom dancing, many area nightclubs get down and boogie on New Year's Eve. Some also offer dinner, dancing and champagne.

One rousing party will be found at the Red Baron in Newport News, which held its first holiday celebration last year. The nightclub, which features booths from authentic English pubs and plenty of distinctive antiques, expects to pack about 400 people inside on the holiday night, said Manager Kip Masters.

The club also will offer a buffet meal of prime rib and other delicacies. The tone will be more festive than formal, even though many patrons will dress up in sports jackets and long dresses. Soon after dinner, ties will be loosened and party hats will be applied at rakish angles.

Although some slow songs will be mixed in, most will be fast-and-grinding Top 40 gems. This year, the music's being provided live by local band Staircase. Expect the dance floor to draw a huddled mass of movers all night.

This isn't a quiet New Year's for the faint of heart. Last year, at one point in the evening, a snaking Conga line slithered around the tables to the beat of a Bobby Brown song.

For a $30 fee, the Red Baron will give patrons a limousine ride to the nearby Comfort Inn hotel to spend the night.

Other nightclubs will be similarly crowded and merry. The cost of a New Year's Eve package at most area clubs ranges from about $50 a couple (less for single revelers) to about $100, depending on what's being offered. Consult your favorite nightclub or newspaper listings to learn the events planned at that club.

What better way to celebrate the end of the decade than to laugh it off and move on? New Year's partyers will have that chance to tickle their funny bones and shake their backsides with an innovative party package.

The Comedy Club at Ramada West in Williamsburg has put together a wild, long night with varied courses. The club will offer the usual prime-rib dinner buffet and overnight stay at the Ramada. But as the night goes on, it gets zanier.

At 10 p.m., revelers will move to The Comedy Club to watch the antics of that night's three comedians: Mike Sullivan-Irwin, who's been on cable channels Showtime and ESPN doing comedy bits; Tom Hertz, a regular at New York's Catch a Rising Star comedy club; and Rob Reibold, a local comedian and the night's master of ceremonies.

After the acts, Reibold will move from stand-up to get-down, as he spins Top 40 tapes. Champagne, hats and noisemakers will be doled out in the small but lavish surroundings.